Well, it’s another week, so that must mean another funeral (or two!). Yeah, recently I have been a part of too many services of the “celebration of life.” Last Saturday I attended the service of Mrs. Jerry Gibbens. Mrs. Gibbens is from Edwards, Mississippi. I remember her family from when I was the pastor of the United Methodist Church there from 1985-1988. Actually, I remember her son, Lewis Montgomery, the brother of our own Barbara Mellon!
You know the old saying, “everybody knows everybody in a small town.” Well, in Edwards everybody knows everybody! They were Presbyterian. I was Methodist. Our churches were across the street from each other. The Baptist, they were on the “other side of the track” (The railroad tracks run through the middle of town.). But interestingly enough, whenever a church got a new pastor in town, the other churches cancelled their service of worship to attend the new pastor’s first worship service. What a welcome and what a great way to get to know “everybody”!
Oh, back to the service of celebration. Alli, the daughter of Joe and Barbara Mellon spoke on behalf of the family. She did an excellent job of opening up to all of us an insight into her grandmother. It was a very special tribute to celebrate “Maw’s” (that’s what they called Mrs. Gibbens) life. Near the end of her tribute she shared a phrase that Maw would say whenever she tasted something she really liked, or maybe she saw something new. I don’t remember the phrase exactly but it reminded me of my own grandmother who often says, “That was the best I have ever tasted!” or “That is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!”
As I was reading “my” 1 Corinthians 13 scripture, (It’s on my computer screen, I read it daily.) I was reminded of how God makes all things new and that even the old things will be made perfect! Mrs. Gibbens is right! My Grandmother is right! In God’s kingdom all things are made new and they will certainly be “the best!”, “the most beautiful!” ever experienced!
1 Corinthians 13
1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
